Even though this is several years old it is worth bring up again as we face a new assault on our existence.
Stop Using Phony Science to Justify TransphobiaHow many times have you heard Republicans and right-wing conservatives say… “God made Adam and Eve” or “if you have XX chromosomes, you’re a female; if you’ve got XY, you’re a male” of course almost no one ever has a chromosomes test done of them so I doubt very many people know what their chromosomes are.
Actual research shows that sex is anything but binary
American Scientific
By Simón(e) D Sun
June 13, 2019
Antiscientific sentiment bombards our politics, or so says the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW). Chief among these antiscientific sentiments, the IDW cites the rising visibility of transgender civil rights demands. To the IDW, trans people and their advocates are destroying the pillars of our society with such free-speech–suppressing, postmodern concepts as: “trans women are women,” “gender-neutral pronouns,” or “there are more than two genders.” Asserting “basic biology” will not be ignored, the IDW proclaims. “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
The irony in all this is that these “protectors of enlightenment” are guilty of the very behavior this phrase derides. Though often dismissed as just a fringe internet movement, they espouse unscientific claims that have infected our politics and culture. Especially alarming is that these “intellectual” assertions are used by nonscientists to claim a scientific basis for the dehumanization of trans people. The real world consequences are stacking up: the trans military ban, bathroom bills, and removal of workplace and medical discrimination protections, a 41-51 percent suicide attempt rate and targeted fatal violence . It’s not just internet trolling anymore.
Contrary to popular belief, scientific research helps us better understand the unique and real transgender experience. Specifically, through three subjects: (1) genetics, (2) neurobiology and (3) endocrinology. So, hold onto your parts, whatever they may be. It’s time for “the talk.”I always like to say, “Mother Nature loves to experiment and that experimentation is what makes every person on earth unique.
Why? Because biological sex is far more complicated than XX or XY (or XXY, or just X). XX individuals could present with male gonads. XY individuals can have ovaries. How? Through a set of complex genetic signals that, in the course of a human’s development, begins with a small group of cells called the bipotential primordium and a gene called SRY.And there there is the brain… the largest sex organ in your body and they are really complicated.
When the biology gets too complicated, some point to differences between brains of males and females as proof of the sexual binary. But a half century of empirical research has repeatedly challenged the idea that brain biology is simply XY = male brain or XX = female brain. In other words, there is no such thing as “the male brain” or “the female brain.” This is not to say that there are no observable differences. Certain brain characteristics can be sexually dimorphic: observable average differences across males and females. But like biological sex, pointing to “brain sex” as the explanation for these differences is wrong and hinders scientific research.We are all unique.
Would it be a very boring world if we all thought and looked the same?
While this is a small overview, the science is clear and conclusive: sex is not binary, transgender people are real. It is time that we acknowledge this. Defining a person’s sex identity using decontextualized “facts” is unscientific and dehumanizing. The trans experience provides essential insights into the science of sex and scientifically demonstrates that uncommon and atypical phenomena are vital for a successful living system. Even the scientific endeavor itself is quantifiably better when it is more inclusive and diverse. So, no matter what a pundit, politician or internet troll may say, trans people are an indispensable part of our living reality.We are all struggling to get though this current plague and (yes it is a plague, go and look up the definition of a plague) you all have heard about COVID-19 variants emerging around the world, the South African variant, the Great Britain variant, and there is a new variant found here in the U.S. And these are excellent examples of how nature is always experimenting to survive. Genetic diversity is for the survival of the species.
Transgender humans represent the complexity and diversity that are fundamental features of life, evolution and nature itself. That is a fact.
Did you know that we will not have any bananas in about a decade?
Why?
Because bananas do not have any genetic diversity. They are all clones!
Natural selection means that one version of COVID-19 might survive while others might die out (Hence it is why we have COVID-19 because the other strains of COVID virus have died out and it mutated to another variant. And the cycle will just keep trying different variants,).
So when we look around nature we see gay animals, we see trans animals, we see intersex animals… we are a fact of life. We see nature adjusting to the environment in order to survie.
But conservatives don’t like diversity, they don’t like change, and they don’t like differences it makes them feel nervous, up tight, uncomfortable. And that should not be grounds to discriminate.
